The invention relates broadly to methods and portable apparatus for disassembling fiber or paperboard drums.
Fiber or paperboard drums normally come in 55 gallon and 30 gallon sizes. The drums have a cylindrical fiber sidewall and a fiber bottom that is attached to the bottom edge of the fiber sidewall with a metal chime mounted continuously around the bottom edge. The bottom metal chime crimps the peripheral edge of the fiber bottom to the lower edge of the fiber sidewall. The bottom metal chime extends up along the outer surface of the fiber sidewall for about one or two inches. An upper metal chime is also mounted continuously around the upper edge of the fiber sidewall. The upper metal chime facilitates the use of clamps to clamp a top onto the drum.
Fiber or paperboard drums are normally used as shipping containers which when emptied must be disposed of. It is becoming more expensive to dispose empty fiber drums in landfills, and some landfills have even been closed to fiber drums. Recycling the fiber or incinerating the fiber are often the only practical means for disposing of the empty drums.
In order to dispose of the fiber by incineration or recycling, the drums must be disassembled and the metal chimes must be removed. Once the metal chimes are removed, the remaining fiber can be shredded, crushed and baled, or otherwise prepared for incineration, recycling or other means of efficient disposal. Commercially available machines to remove metal chimes from fiber drums tend to be large, expensive machines. Not all fiber drum users can justify the expense of these large, expensive dechiming machines.